Sometimes the best ceremonies are the ones that aren't totally staged.

Nobody quite knew what to expect when Major League Baseball gathered many of its greatest legends at Fenway Park before the 1999 All-Star Game.

A promotional "All-Century Team" lined up on the infield, and that year's All-Stars lined up on the foul lines, and Boston's greatest player, Ted Williams, 80, and three years before his death, was the obvious centerpiece.

But this was Boston, so Teddy Ballgame was the final man introduced. He was wheeled around the field and to the mound in a golf cart for the first-pitch ceremony, his strength and eyes -- those legendary eyes -- fading fast.

"He's part of the family," said Griffey, in many ways a natural in the mold of Williams. "He was a living legend. He's part of the reason why a lot of people play this game. Because of him, a lot of people watched this game and taught their kids and grandkids this game."

This was a few years after the players' strike wiped out a World Series and a few years before it was confirmed that steroids have tainted the record books. He was supposed to throw out the first pitch, and that was it.

But once he arrived at the mound, nearly 90 former and current players -- the biggest collection of premier baseball talent in history -- spontaneously crowded around him for an extended baseball love-in. Everyone was a kid again. For a few precious moments, the game's starting time and network's timetable were irrelevant. This was a historic connection between ballplayers, past and present, and a close-up of Williams showed tears.

He wasn't the only one.

"It's the same thing with Willie Mays. These guys are all part of American history," said Griffey -- Mays will be similarly honored before this year's game. "It showed the respect we have for guys who played this game before us. My job was to say nothin'. You know that line, 'Children should be seen and not heard?' As a baby of the group, my job was not to say anything and soak it all in."

Gwynn and McGwire gently assisted Williams in throwing out the first pitch. The game began 15 minutes late, and nobody cared.

Fittingly, a Boston player was the story of the game. Pedro Martinez struck out his first four batters and five of six and was named MVP in a 4-1 AL victory. The story of the day, however, was baseball's version of John Wayne riding in and saying so long, then riding out.